On Sunday 9 September, 22-year old Mexican rookie phenom Checo Pérez pulled off a gutsy performance in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. It was already the third podium finish for the F1 racer – a prodigy who was born with racing in his blood.

Pérez sat down for a blogger roundtable with MexicoToday to discuss his career, his ambitions and the country and sport he loves.

From a very young age, Checo Pérez knew his lifelong ambition was to become a race car driver, an ambition he picked up from his father.

“I had a great motivation coming from Adrián Fernández who was an IndyCar racer. My father used to be his manager, so I was very close to him, and he was very special to me,” Pérez said. “Racing has been a dream of mine. I began racing when I was 6 and always wanted to become the best driver in the world.”

In March 2011, Pérez burst into the F1 scene, racing with his Sauber team to a 7th place finish in Melbourne. Since then, Pérez has had three podium finishes, most recently finishing 2nd at Monza behind only Lewis Hamilton.

And while a podium finish is a great accomplishment for Pérez, he has his sights set even higher.

“My main focus is to finish the season very high—to get the first win—and we’ll see what comes next.”

And he’ll have plenty of opportunities for a first place finish for his Sauber team. The 2012 F1 calendar contains 7 more races – Singapore, Japan, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi, United States and Brazil.

“The upcoming races are all very tough. I’m really looking forward to Austin because it’s so close to Mexico and I imagine there will be a lot of Mexican fans. When I raced in Canada, it was the closest race I’ve had to racing in Mexico, and I felt very motivated with all of the Mexicans around. One day, I would love to see a Formula 1 race in Mexico.”

The 22-year old has done something very few have been able to do and had the opportunity to travel all over the world. So what’s his favourite place?

“I love Mexico. We have such a beautiful country, friendly people, beaches. The hospitality is great. I’m very lucky to have been in nearly all of the world, but the people and hospitality we have here are very special. If you come once to Mexico, you will see that it is so beautiful that you will never want to leave.”